A Chemung County legislator has filed a resolution seeking to cancel changes to the sales tax revenue distribution formula, but it's not going to go anywhere.

Sidney Graubard of Horseheads, R-5th District, filed the resolution Thursday seeking to keep the current formula for sales tax revenue distribution used between the county and municipalities.

Though last year he voted in favor of the revised formula that will start going into effect in 2015, he has had second thoughts because it would create a financial hardship on some municipalities that do not have the same tax base as more financially affluent municipalities, he said.

"I almost voted no on it because I don't go for taking away from the municipalities," he said, pointing to things that happen unexpectedly that drain local resources, such as weather events.

The comprehensive financial restructuring plan that included the revised sales tax formula was unanimously approved by the legislature on Sept. 9, 2013. The plan was developed in response to a sharp decline in sales tax revenue.

Graubard said he understands that County Executive Tom Santulli was trying to get at the reserves that some municipalities were building up with their sales tax revenue. The Town of Southport had the highest percentage of expenditures in its fund balance at 113.9 percent, according to Santulli's figures.

"The Town of Southport is ready to put $3 million on the table for a community center that failed in a referendum," Graubard said.

He said he is also concerned because the loss of sales tax revenue means the Town of Horseheads may have to close its animal shelter.

"We were also told it was to save the city from bankruptcy," he said of the revised formula. "I'm pro-Elmira, but at the same time, in 2016, they get the lion's share. They get an even bigger share of the tax split, and the municipalities get an even smaller one. It's horrific."

Under the original formula, the county gets half of sales tax revenue, the City of Elmira receives a quarter of the revenue and the rest of the county's municipalities divide the remaining quarter.

Under the revised plan that will be phased in, by 2018 the county will receive 65.6 percent of sales tax revenue with the remaining going to the city and the county's municipalities.

Santulli and Legislature Chairwoman Donna Draxler, R-14th District, both said Graubard had not called them about his change of heart.

"With the exception of getting that resolution (Thursday), there's been no conversation at all," she said.

"I don't think he's ever done a resolution in the history of his tenure here, so it's a first for him. It's a first for me, and it's not part of the process," Draxler said. The resolution revising the sales tax formula has already been approved, and the legislature does not bring resolutions back, she said.

"That's part of the charter and it's part of the process. Once a resolution is passed, it's passed," she said. "This was done with a lot of knowledge."

Santulli said months were spent working on the plan.

"We met with all the town supervisors. I did several presentations to the legislature. The business community became very involved with a very comprehensive study about sales tax and fund balances and how money should be spent," he said.

"This was given as much scrutiny as anything we've ever done, and the reason was because we have $38 million of unfunded mandates. Our entire tax levy of $28.5 million plus $10 million in sales tax goes to the state of New York for all those unfunded mandates," Santulli said.

"The fact of the matter is the county doesn't have to share its sales tax, but we do," he said, noting the only two entities involved in sales tax distribution are the county and city. "We also gave the towns and villages two years before we implemented it to sit down and look for ways that we could work together and offset any of those costs."

With the city and the county coming together, the problem of funding the shelter will be resolved, Santulli said. "We're working on a countywide plan," he said. "I think that we can preserve the shelter. But I've got to tell you, the town government never called and asked us for help. It was the people that work at the shelter."